All Too Human Weakness
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: During the confrontation in the Shrieking Shack in 1994, Peter Pettigrew insists he never betrayed the Potters, and events take a different turn from canon. Alternate Universe. One-shot posted for the Christmas holiday 2012. Some characters differ from their canon counterparts. NOTES REVISED January 1st 2013, following early reviews.


(Initial Note plus Author Notes revised 1st January, 2013)

Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following occurs in an alternate universe where, other than for betraying the Potters and generally working for Voldemort, Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban for the death of Peter Pettigrew. There were no muggle casualties in the Peter/Sirius 'standoff' scene in November 1981 in this alternate universe. (Prior to that moment, other differences occurred in how characters developed, mostly involving Sirius/Remus/Peter during the events of their schooldays and the last years of the Wizarding War.) This story (which is a one-shot) takes up at some point during the 'discussion' in the Shrieking Shack. As in canon, Peter Pettigrew (forced into human form), is being confronted by Sirius Black. Remus Lupin, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley are on the scene (as is an incapacitated and apparently unconscious Professor Snape), although the three Marauders are the ones doing all the talking...

* * *

"It wasn't me, I never sold them out, I swear!" Peter Pettigrew was terrified.

"You were the Potters' secret-keeper." Sirius Black shouted at Peter, pointing his captured wand at the quivering man. "You're the only one who could have told him!"

"I only told you, Remus, Frank Longbottom, and Alastor Moody. Plus half a dozen notes I wrote for Dumbledore so he'd know and for him to show other people on a need-to-know basis." Peter was shaking like a leaf.

"And now I _know_ you're lying." Sirius bellowed. "Albus only ever had the one note."

The three Hogwarts pupils in the room watched this exchange in silence, too terrified to butt in. Professor Snape remained out cold, a testament to the efficacy of the spell which had taken him down.

"Then _he's_ lying." Peter squeaked. "I wrote out six for him, and passed them on to Remus here to deliver. Tell him, Remus!"

"Remus?" Sirius turned to the Hogwarts defence professor, apparently seeking for him to contradict Peter's story, and caught an expression of astonishment and regret flickering on the other man's face for just long enough. "Moony?" Sirius' tone became confused and accusing.

"He was blackmailing me." Remus said, and licked his lips, and he suddenly seemed a changed man, a haunted look in his eyes. "The Dark Lord. He knew I was a werewolf. He could make life very difficult for me. But so long as I occasionally did things for him – mostly confirming things which he already seemed to know – he'd keep my secret, and order any Death Eaters who knew it to keep quiet and leave me alone, too. That's all I ever wanted – a quiet, normal, life, with the odd friend, away from the shadow of the fear of the wolf." He looked at Harry, apologetically. "You don't know how hard it's been for me, teaching you, this last year, Harry, looking into those eyes – your mother's eyes – and knowing both your parents are dead because in a moment of weakness, I passed five of those notes about your location on to the Dark Lord. I wanted out, you see. No more of him breathing down my neck, no more demands to do him little favours, and I saw them as a bargaining chip I could use to get out of his power forever. I could get him to swear an unbreakable vow in return for them. And I was confident that he wouldn't be able to hurt your parents – they'd both been such clever pupils at school – and that you'd all be able to escape when he came to call, with the assistance of James' invisibility cloak, which I'd never told him about. I didn't know the headmaster had gone and borrowed it for some reason."

"YOU LET ME GO TO AZKABAN FOR A DECADE!" Sirius bellowed.

"Even if I knew you weren't the one who'd betrayed the fidelius' secret, you'd _killed_ Peter, or so I thought." Remus shot back. "You _deserved_ to be in Azkaban for that – for killing one of your friends who had _never_ betrayed you. And I was afraid of what you might do if you were out again: you'd clearly inherited the Black temper, and weren't safe for anyone – even your supposed _friends_ – to be around. I still remember the occasion he'd annoyed you more than usual so in response you tried to feed Severus to me on a night when I was transformed, and how James stopped you so that _he_ could try to claim Severus owed _him_ a life-debt. And _that_ little episode _also_ opened my eyes to how even those who _called_ themselves my friends would use me and try to take advantage of me for their own benefit if a too tempting opportunity came along, and any potential consequences for me be damned – there wasn't any 'sorry Moony, we were all a bit insane last night' the next morning after that episode, or not any _sincere_ apology. And with 'friends' with a track-record of acting like that, why _shouldn't_ I have put _my_ own interests first once in a while? At school I was a dark creature the three of you were happy enough to hang about with because it made you feel cool, but the moment we were out of school, you and James were fast enough to suspect my loyalties might lie elsewhere and to start shutting me out – and that was _before_ the Dark Lord even put the squeeze on. And once he did, since you were going to suspect me anyway…"

There was a moment of awful silence in the room, as Remus' rant finally burnt itself out, and then Remus gave a ghastly little smile.

"And now, gentlemen, you _are_ going to let me leave, because the full-moon is going to rise any minute now, and I doubt you can take me down as a werewolf. Not without risk of harm to the children. You're going to let me walk out into the tunnel, and barricade yourselves in here for the night, because I was in such a rush to get out here that I _didn't_ take my wolfsbane, and my wolf and I share enough that it _will_ know to see you as critical threats to its existence, if you won't make flight the easier option than fighting…"

* * *

Author Notes: (Revised January 1st, 2013)

And fade...

I had been hoping to get something slightly more cheerful up for the Christmas period this year (2012), but the revisions of other things were going slowly, and this is what ended up coming out when I started to write a one-shot.

What this (alternate universe) version of Remus Lupin 'saw' in how James and Sirius were acting during their schooldays may not have been accurate in all details of what was actually happening. It was what he _perceived_ as going on, however, and it affected him and how he developed accordingly.

To respond to a point one early reviewer has made, the Severus Snape in this particular universe went out to the Shrieking Shack during the 1970's version of this universe's version of the 'werewolf incident' because (thanks to the manipulations of this universe's version of Sirius) he was hoping to spy on a secret Marauder meeting which he thought was going to occur there and which would furnish him with information (and possibly evidence) he could possibly use to get the Marauders into trouble. He was categorically *not* expecting to meet a transformed werewolf. If he had thought that there was a chance that a transformed werewolf would be in the Shrieking Shack, he would have done his best to get aurors in to investigate it (especially if he thought that it was a werewolf which was friends with James Potter and his chums), not have gone rushing off to meet it. I'm not sufficiently versed in canon to know if this is exactly what happened in canon, and if that's not why Severus Snape went out or expected to find in canon, then that's one more difference from canon in this alternate universe.

I'm unclear on whether people shouting in the same room would normally wake a witch or wizard put to sleep by something like a _stupefy_, but for those who think it should, maybe Professor Snape was put out with something a bit stronger in this universe, or perhaps he's just _pretending_ to be still completely out of things, whilst he listens in and assesses the situation.

Regarding why Peter remained in hiding for ten years in this universe, despite _not_ having wilfully betrayed the Potters, I submit the following segment from a few notes I scribbled about the scene which follows Remus' departure (but which I couldn't get to work without it turning into another chapter):

_"So why have you been hiding as a rat for ten years?" Sirius asked Peter Pettigrew, as the howls of a wolf slowly receded into the distance._

_"I was afraid of you, Padfoot." Peter admitted sheepishly. "I had no idea what could have gone wrong with the fidelius, and you'd already ignored my pleas that I didn't betray James and Lily on one occasion and tried to kill me. And since you were still around, I thought if you got word that I was actually alive, even Azkaban wouldn't be able to hold you, and you'd come out looking for me. I didn't want to have to face you again. Not without knowing what had happened. Proof that I hadn't deliberately betrayed them was the only thing I could think of that might stop you, and I couldn't give you that."_

_Sirius considered this for a moment._

_"Fair enough." he conceded. _


End file.
